It is the fall of 1951, and the korean war is raging. Twenty-six-year-old nicholai hel has spent the last three years in solitary confinement at the hands of the americans. Hel is a master of hoda korosu, or "Naked kill,...It is the fall of 1951, and the korean war is raging. Twenty-six-year-old nicholai hel has spent the last three years in solitary confinement at the hands of the americans. Hel is a master of hoda korosu, or "Naked kill," Is fluent in seven languages, and has honed extraordinary "Proximity sense"-an extra-awareness of the presence of danger.